A COMMUNITY library which has been closed for four months for maintenance and refurbishment work is set to reopen by the end of this month.

Bradford Council expects to reopen the doors at Eccleshill Library to the public on Monday, March 30.

It follows a £240,000 revamp of the 1960s building which took longer than expected after a steel frame holding up the roof was found to be damaged, costing an extra £10,000 to fix.

The building, which lies on the border of the Eccleshill and Bolton and Undercliffe council wards, closed temporarily in November for the essential maintenance work to be carried out. Initially it was expected to reopen in mid-February, but this was put back to March.

In January the Telegraph & Argus revealed that structural damage was found to the steel frame which supports the roof, but it was not as badly damaged as originally thought.

At the same time the Council moved to dispel rumours that the library had been condemned. It followed an email that ward councillor Howard Middleton (Lib Dem, Bolton and Undercliffe) received from a councillor officer saying that the library had "major structural issues".

Cllr Middleton said at the time that the confirmation from the Council would be a reassurance to library-goers in the area.

A Council spokesman said: "We are expecting to be able to reopen Eccleshill Library on the 30 March. As part of the refurbishment we have replaced the counter area, installed new lighting, flooring and automatic doors in the entrance and refurbished the toilets. The library opening times will be Monday to Thursday 9am to 7pm and Friday and Saturday 9am to 5pm."

The Council-owned library was opened in 1964 and is the district's seventh busiest library, with more than 21,000 books available. It was extensively refurbished in 1990 when the layout was altered.

Cllr Middleton today said he was sure local people would be pleased at the expected reopening date.

"People in BD2 will be pleased, and are no doubt looking forward to using the library again. It has certainly been missed. It's what they call a hub library because it serves a wider area, so there are plenty of people who will want to start using it again when it reopens."

He added that the issue over structural damage came from an initial survey, which showed there was a bit more damage than they had originally thought.